174 



CONGRESS. (THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS ) 



but no location of such non-adjacent land shall 

 exceed 2 hectares, and payment for the same 

 must be made at the same rate as fixed by this 

 act for the superficies of the lode. The owner of 

 a quartz-mill or reduction-works not owning a 

 mine in connection therewith may also receive a 

 patent for his mill site as provided in this section. 



" SEC. 49. That as a condition of sale the gov- 

 ernment of the Philippine Islands may provide 

 rules for working, policing, and sanitation of 

 mines, and rules concerning easements, drainage, 

 water rights, right of way, right of government 

 -m-vey and inspection, and other necessary means 

 to their complete development not inconsistent 

 with the provisions of this act, and those con- 

 ditions shall be fully expressed in the patent. 

 The Philippine Commission or its successors are 

 hereby further empowered to fix the bonds of 

 deputy mineral surveyors. 



" SEC. 50. That whenever by priority of pos- 

 session rights to the use of water for mining, 

 agricultural, manufacturing, or other purposes 

 have vested and accrued and the same are recog- 

 nized and acknowledged by the local customs, 

 laws, and the decisions of courts, the possessors 

 and owners of such vested rights shall be main- 

 tained and protected in the same, and the right of 

 way for the construction of ditches and canals for 

 the purposes herein specified is acknowledged and 

 confirmed, but whenever any person, in the con- 

 struction of any ditch or canal, injures or dam- 

 ages the possession of any settler on the public 

 domain, the party committing such injury or 

 damage shall be liable to the party injured for 

 such injury or damage. 



" SEC. 51. That all patents granted shall be 

 subject to any vested and accrued water rights, 

 or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in con- 

 nection with such water rights as may have been 

 acquired under or recognized by the preceding 

 section. 



" SEC. 52. That the government of the Philip- 

 pine Islands is authorized to establish land dis- 

 tricts and provide for the appointment of the 

 necessary officers wherever they may deem the 

 same necessary for the public convenience, and 

 to further provide that in districts where land- 

 offices are established proceedings required by 

 this act to be had before provincial officers shall 

 be had before the proper officers of such land- 

 offices. 



" SEC. 53. That every person above the age of 

 twenty-one years who is a citizen of the United 

 States, or of the Philippine Islands, or who has 

 acquired the rights of a native of said islands 

 under and by virtue of the treaty of Paris, or 

 any association of persons severally qualified as 

 above, shall, upon application to the proper pro- 

 vincial treasurer, have the right to enter any qual- 

 ity of vacant coal lands of said islands not oth- 

 erwise appropriated or reserved by competent 

 authority, not exceeding 64 hectares to such indi- 

 vidual person, or 128 hectares to such associa- 

 tion, upon payment to the provincial treasurer 

 or the collector of internal revenue, as the case 

 may be, of not less than $25 per hectare for such 

 lands, where the same shall be situated more 

 than 15 miles from any completed railroad or 

 available harbor or navigable stream, and not 

 less than $50 per hectare for such lands as shall be 

 within 15 miles of such road, harbor, or stream: 

 Provided, That such entries shall be taken in 

 squares of 16 or 64 hectares, in conformity with 

 the rules and regulations governing the public-- 

 land surveys of the said islands in plotting legal 

 subdivisions. 



" SEC. 54. That any person or association of 



persons, severally qualified as above provided, 

 who have opened and improved, or shall hereafter 

 open and improve, any coal-mine or mines upon 

 the public lands, and shall be in actual possession 

 of the same, shall be entitled to a preference 

 right of entry under the preceding section of the 

 mines so opened and improved. 



" SEC. 55. That all claims under the preceding 

 section must be presented to the proper provin- 

 cial secretary within sixty days after the date 

 of actual possession and the commencement of 

 improvements on the land by the filing of a 

 declaratory statement therefor; and where the 

 improvements shall have been made prior to the 

 expiration of three months from the date of the 

 passage of this act, sixty days from the expira- 

 tion of such three months shall be allowed for 

 the filing of a declaratory statement; and no 

 sale under the provisions of this act shall be al- 

 lowed until the expiration of six months from 

 the date of the passage of this act. 



" SEC. 56. That the three preceding sections 

 shall be held to authorize only one entry by the 

 same person or association of persons; and no 

 association of persons, any member of which 

 shall have taken the benefit of such sections 

 either as an individual or as a member of any 

 other association, shall enter or hold any other 

 lands under the provisions .thereof; and no mem- 

 ber of any association which shall have taken 

 the benefit of such section shall enter or hold 

 any other lands under their provisions; and all 

 persons claiming under section 58 shall be re- 

 quired to prove their respective rights and pay 

 for the lands filed upon within one year from 

 the time prescribed for filing their respective 

 claims; and upon failure to file the proper no- 

 tice or to pay for the land within the required 

 period, the same shall be subject to entry by any 

 other qualified applicant. 



" SEC. 57. That in case of conflicting claims 

 upon coal lands where the improvements shall be 

 commenced after the date of the passage of this 

 act, priority of possession and improvement, fol- 

 lowed by proper filing and continued good faith, 

 shall determine the preference right to purchase. 

 And also where improvements have already been 

 made prior to the passage of this act, division 

 of the land claimed may be made by legal sub- 

 divisions, which shall conform as nearly as prac- 

 ticable with the subdivisions of land provided for 

 in this act, to include as near as may be the 

 valuable improvements of the respective parties. 

 The government of the Philippine Islands is au- 

 thorized to issue all needful rules and regulations 

 for carrying into effect the provisions of this and 

 preceding sections relating to mineral lands. 



" SEC. 58. That whenever it shall be made to 

 appear to the secretary of any province or the 

 commander of any military department in the 

 Philippine Islands that any lands within the 



Srovince are saline in character, it shall be the 

 uty of said provincial secretary or commander, 

 under the regulations of the government of the 

 Philippine Islands, to take testimony in refer- 

 ence to such lands, to ascertain their true char- 

 acter, and to report the same to the secretary of 

 the interior for the Philippine Islands; and if, 

 upon such testimony, the secretary of the in- 

 terior shall find that such lands are saline and 

 incapable of being purchased under any of the 

 laws relative to the public domain, then and in 

 such ease said lands shall be offered for sale 

 at the office of the provincial secretary or such 

 other officers as by the said government may be 

 described as mining recorder of the province or 

 department in which the same shall be situ- 



